Wednesday, March 7, 2012

First Bald Eagle?

It was an absolutely beautiful day yesterday. Temperatures reached 70F/21C here! That's pretty good for winter. I was sitting on my back porch looking for interesting nature to take some pictures and I happened to glance up to the sky at just the right moment.

There above me were two big birds drifting high in the sky. I assumed they were a couple of hawks because I see hawks a lot of the time around here. I just usually don't have my camera at those times. This time I obviously did.

I took as many pictures as I could before the birds flew out of view. I actually got a couple better than the two I have today, but these two are more important right now. Look at that top picture. I think it may be a bald eagle up there in the sky! It's also possible that it's just a trick of light though.
 
This next picture is a smaller copy of the original that I cropped that first one from. The eagle is toward the right center just under those branches. I thought I'd show it to you to give a little perspective on how I saw the birds.

I'm pretty excited about this because this would be the first bald eagle I've ever seen. Even if it's not actually an eagle I'm still pretty excited because it was a good day and a few eventful pictures for me. Nature comes right up to my house now!

I'll be back soon with some of the best pictures I've had since I moved here. I hope yesterday was a true beginning of spring because it really put everyone around here in the mood for it.


Nature Center Magazine - Your starting place for nature!

24 comments:

  1. Hi Ratty. That sure looks like an eagle to me. I'm no expert but if i'd have got that picture I would be pretty sure it was a bald eagle. Nice shots!

    I'm off to the hawk conservancy near me soon, they have a few bald eagles- they are beautiful to photograph. I'll put some pictures up on my site of my last visit.

    See you :)

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    1. @Bemused26
      The one problem I had was that it's sometimes hard to tell eagles from hawks, and we have a lot of hawks here.

      I'll be sure to visit. I'd love to see what you have. Eagles are so fun.

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  2. Oh WOW! I know they winter by the Mississippi, but I don't know how close you are to that. We used to go down by the river in the winter to see them flying around. They certainly are incredibly lovely!

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    1. @Lin
      I'm pretty sure there are a lot of bald eagles around here. I'm on the north-western part of Iowa.

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  3. How exciting. I know there are eagles around here but I've yet to see any of them.
    We had pretty nice weather here today, it was up to 63. Sprig is on the way

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    1. @Ann
      The coming of spring is what's even more exciting for me. I can't wait!

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  4. They are way far up, but your photos are beautiful! I can't know which on is which, but I trust you..

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    1. @Icy BC
      It looks like a bald eagle the more I look at other pictures on the internet, so I'm going to begin to trust me too.

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  5. You possibly overlooked them when they are flying up so high.

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    1. @Out on the prairie
      I see so many big birds now so some of them probably have been eagles and I didn't even know it.

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  6. An eagle is a big bird.

    But it appears to us always so small in size.

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    1. @Rainfield
      One of these times it will appear big for us.

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  7. Oh yeah! You've got your bald eagle!!! How exciting for you. I see them often over the Perkiomen Creek near Valley Forge, PA, but never get over the thrill.

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    1. @Wayside Artist
      I had even more excitement two days later when that eagle landed in my yard.

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  8. No doubt, Ratty. That's an adult BE. All of that white on the head and tail can't be mistaken.

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    1. @montucky
      I was fooled by the female with him. Her colors were different.

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  9. Awesome photo Ratty!! I hope you see more of them soon and get some good close ups!! That's one bird I've never seen.

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    1. @Ginnymo
      I got to see that same one even closer. Even though I didn't get some pictures from it, I did get some closeups of its partner.

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  10. I think that's what you've got. Seems just the right shapes and colors. I don't think the light would make the head and tail white like that!

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    1. @Sharkbytes
      I didn't think so either, but they seemed kind of small at the time for eagles.

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  11. Such a wonderful shot Ratty. I love to see the birds of prey high up in the sky and especially when they start to hover once they have sighted their prey.

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    1. @allotments4you
      They didn't really hover when I got the pictures, but they came back right down into my yard later.

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  12. I don't see them a lot here but I used to see them flying around all the time in AK and that sure looks like a bald eagle to me. Hopefully you will see them again.

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    1. @SquirrelQueen
      I definitely did see that one again. It scared the dog pretty good.

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